SCHOOL BUS CONVERSION for Pregnant Family
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Jimmy Boyette, his wife Amber and their son Onyx were living in an apartment in Narragansett, Rhode Island. Amber owned a little shop like a storefront and sold the jewelry that they made, while Jimmy worked as a contractor painting and doing construction and stuff like that. When they went down to Puerto Rico and did this pretty intense cleanse. They did it for a lifestyle change, and so they could get healthier. When they got back, they found it really difficult to implement the changes being in the same environment that they were in before. That kind of prompted them to try something completely different. They got back from the cleanse in June, and the following November they bought the bus.
Probably for like three or four months Jimmy was just working on it on the weekends and working full-time all week long while Amber was working, running the store several days a week too. Probably about another month and a half Jimmy worked on this thing like every day of the week. It was a full-time job 10-hour, 12-hour days sometimes. Then Amber closed her store at the end of March too, so really they wrapped everything up in their life in Narragansett by the beginning of April.
The Bus is a 2003 International T440 4E 3800. When they bought it it had just around a 100,000 and their mileage ranges from eight to like almost eleven miles per gallon. Total they were just over ten grand for the whole build. Their solar system consists of two solar panels, each one is 150 watts. Their battery bank is made of six 126ah sealed deep-cycle batteries. They wanted to be able to compensate for overcast days with the massive battery bank, so they could probably go for four or five days on these batteries without sunlight. The wiring comes up through the floor under the bed where they have their charge controller and a 2000w inverter.
There is extra storage for tools as well as a 40 gallon water tank. They filter everything as it goes in and then they have a filter on the outside as well. Some more storage as well for like oil and everything else needed to manage the mechanical aspects of the bus. Jimmy built this table cooking area on the outside of the bus that doubles as a display counter for jewelry shows. They don't want to run gas or anything on the inside, so cook outside as much as possible using a 20 pound propane tank hooked up to a camp stove.
They have to definitely strap things down in there when they travel. Not too much, just the fridge in place and then they'll strap the drawers and cabinets. They wanted a little book space for Onyx to be able to just grab his stuff, and the front of the bus under the dash was a perfect spot for it. They also have little shoe cubbies at the front of the bus so they can store them right when they get inside. They build a fold down platform that covers the stairs which eliminates the risk of Onyx potentially falling down the stairs while playing. It works better than a gate as it utiziles the space better. They have a Captain's seat on a swivel so that it can still be used when they’re just hanging out in the bus. They have a lot of natural wood in there. It came from a friend in Rhode Island that Amber ended up trading some jewelry for. There are a lot of elements in the bus that were acquired by trading.
Jimmy made a table that flips up for additional storage. Under the counters they decided to paint their cabinet doors with chalkboard paint so Onyx could mark those up and have a good time with them. These seats are on tracks, they had to have seats that bolted down so that they could buckle in the car seat.
They opted for a full-size fridge because they like to make everything fresh. In the back they have a queen-size bed and then Onyx has a little loft that they built off of the bed. Amber was afraid at first because he was in a crib when they moved in there so putting him in a bed without a rail made her nervous, but he does just fine in it. And then they have the skylight. Jimmy built a little porch so they can go sit out on the deck up there.
They got the Nature's Head toilet. They don’t have a ton of privacy from each other other than a curtain that they have on, but they make it work. The nice thing about the bus is that it's all magnetic so they can use magnets to just put a curtain up quick so I mean they can block the bed off or the toilet off with the curtain which is nice and have a little bit of privacy, but for the most part they just kind of leave it like this and I think it might make potty training easier for the baby.
They’ve got a two and a half gallon hot water heater that they use and runs off their solar. They can't have that and the fridge both plugged in at the same time, so they have to be selective as to what they’re doing.It's a constant evolution, they’re just really figuring it out every day what works and what doesn't work and just kind of adjusting.
Their advice is to not be afraid of letting things go. They had a hard time, they decided to not get a storage unit and instead pay for a monthly storage unit just to save things that they don't really need. They ended up getting rid of about 2/3rds of their stuff. It feels so good once you let go of it. Another piece of advice is that there will always be hurdles to making big changes, and that you shouldn’t let them stop you. There's always an excuse not to move forward with something so they just decided to stick with our plan and roll forward with it. If you're thinking about doing something like this, you have that desire in you, don't smother it. Anybody can adapt to live in a space like this or live with less you know, but it's just making that change.
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